Gov. Jerry Brown scrapped a questionable law passed last year that forced food-service workers to use gloves when preparing food.

Brown signed AB2130 Saturday, which repeals the law that in part required food and beverage handlers to change gloves every time they switched tasks or even touched other food.

When the "glove law" went into effect in January, it was immediately met by blowback from food-industry workers and restaurateurs who argued it was expensive, wasteful and not valuable to public health.

Some food-service workers were concerned that amid multitasking, food and drink handlers might resist or forget to change gloves repeatedly.

Moreover, the law was seen as counterproductive to environmental legislation like plastic bag bans. Remy Nelson, owner of Mojo Bicycle Cafe in San Francisco, told The Chronicle in March that he estimated his business would go through 50,000 gloves a year used just for preparing bagels.

Restaurants had until June to comply with the new rules, but state lawmakers worked diligently in recent months to do away with the regulation.

The law apparently sneaked its way through both houses of the Legislature in 2013 unbeknownst to most small restaurant and bar owners. It wasn't until January, after the law was already in effect, that most businesses got wind of the rule.